Cardiac rehabilitation is a useful tool for preventing readmissions, which can save hospitals money on extra procedures and fines for cardiac readmissions, according to an article from the Wall Street Journal.
A study published in the journal Circulation in July found that attendance at cardiac rehabilitation decreased the 10-year death-risk from cardiac procedures by 46 percent across all patients.
Rigorous customized rehabilitation for heart surgery appears to increase rehabilitation attendance, which is attended by only 14 percent of heart attack patients and 31 percent of bypass patients.
Cardiac rehab has suffered as hospitals scale-back or close programs that do not seem absolutely necessary. It appears, however, that cardiac rehabilitation does play in important role in keeping heart patients out of the hospital and may be worth revisiting with the advent of quality measures that consider heart patient readmissions, according to the report.
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